Morning business headlines: 10-18-13

Friday, October 18, 2013 11:02 AM

British bank hit with record $2.46 billion judgment in U.S. lawsuit

Reuters: A unit of British bank HSBC Holdings PLC was hit on Thursday with a record $2.46 billion final judgment in a U.S. securities class-action lawsuit against a business formerly known as Household International Inc. The judgment by U.S. Judge Ronald Guzman in Chicago was the largest in a securities fraud class action that went to a trial, according to a statement from the Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd law firm that represented investors. Almost all securities fraud class-action cases are settled before going to a jury. The suit was filed in 2002 and alleged that Household International, its chief executive, its chief financial officer and its head of consumer lending made false and misleading statements that inflated the company's share price.

Stocks: Investors refocus on economy, earnings

CNNMoney: Now that Congress has reached a deal to avert a debt crisis disaster, investors are turning their attention back to the broader economy and corporate earnings. Early Friday, China reported its economy grew 7.8 percent during the third quarter, the strongest performance since the end of last year. That's helping ease fears of a hard landing and puts the world's second-largest economy on track to meet its official growth target for 2013. World markets were broadly firmer, while U.S. stock futures nudged higher.

Google stock set for all-time high as revenue soars

Reuters: Google Inc shares were set to open at an all-time high near $1,000 after the search engine giant reported a surge in mobile and video advertising that helped drive quarterly revenue up 23 percent. At least 10 brokerages raised their price targets on the stock to between $880 and $1,175, with Jefferies bumping up its target price the most at 15 percent. Google said paid clicks increased 26 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier, the highest rate of growth in the past year. This offset an 8 percent fall in average cost-per-click, the price advertisers pay Google when consumers click on their ads.